


Catch a cold

by Scarlet_Nin



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen, May contain spoilers if you're not up to date with the manga, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 14:23:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17624057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scarlet_Nin/pseuds/Scarlet_Nin
Summary: “That smells like shit, I am not drinking that, whatever that is!”Allen pushes the spoon away, his forehead wrinkles as the smell hits his nose, stomach twisting at the thought of swallowing the liquid which reminds him of dirty swamp water.“Don’t be silly, Allen. It`s medicine not poison,” Mana says with a chuckle, making funny noises nearly whistling as he draws invisible lines in the air with the spoon. “Open your mouth, here comes the bird~.”“Quit it!”





	Catch a cold

_Bones made of ice,_

_Fire burning through my vein_

_Truly, this fool’s paradise—_

_—Is entirely made of pain._

* * *

 

“Stupid clown, stupid weather, stupid people…” Curses spilling out of dry lips, boots crunching harshly due to the snow, Allen sniffles, as he scowls at the ground. “Where the hell am I? I was sure, this was the right way!”

 

Except, there was no tall figure with that weird top hat running around, nearly walking into traffic. Nor that obnoxious cheery voice calling out to him and ghosts of a past long forgotten.

The sea of people swarming the streets made his skin itch. Men with board shoulders, barreling through the crowd, women with more makeup on their faces than clowns giggling as they marched through the snow with high-heeled boots, kids whining about the coldness of the winter as they tug onto their parents clothes—

 

“Disgusting.”Allen says, nose wrinkling as he blinks against the icy slap of the wind that made his eyes water. He keeps on walking, twisting through limbs that would have knocked him to the ground as he made his way through the masses of bodies.

 

_“Allen sure is interesting, though lately he keeps getting lost…_

_But that’s fine, because lost things have a way of turning up ~.”_

 

“Mana…where are you?”

 

Without the heat of his irritation, his legs slowed until they stopped moving altogether. After searching for another ten minutes and angrily squinting through the crowd of people, the noise around him increasing until he stumbled into an alleyway.

 

_Shut up, shut up, shut up!_

 

Gritting his teeth, Allen sits down against a brick wall, one hand tightly pressed over his ear. The cold from the stone seeps through his clothes, into his bones as he squeezes his eyes shut, pulling his legs up to his chest.

 

“Mana is gonna find me…he has to,” Mumbling the words into his knees as he buries his face into them. He swallows the lump that forms in his throat, whimpering at the sensation of sandpaper grinding against stone that results from that. “Who else would put up with him? He needs me…he can’t leave.”

 

_Does he really?_

_Or isn’t it **you** who needs him? Without Mana there would be no “ **Allen** ”._

 

“I am not speaking to voices inside my head, so shut up. Bloody hell, he’s rubbing off on me.”

 

Allen bites his bottom lip raw, eyes sliding open. Stretching out his legs, he uses one hand to draw a symbol into the snow, ignoring how stiff and red his fingers appeared to be. He relishes in the stinging pain of the cold against his hot skin when he touches the snow.

 

It means—

 

“I am here, Mana, so come and find me.”

 

Allen`s hushed whisper is swallowed by the rushing crowd of people outside of the alleyway. Huddling against the stonewall, he stares up at the murky curtain of steel that concealed what little sun might have shined through.

 

Minutes passed, dragging into a quarter then into half an hour. The more time wasted away, the tighter his ribs grew inward, crushing his chest until they pierced his lungs which made him gasp for breath only to choke on air.

 

_He won’t find you, he’ll leave you behind like everyone else has! You'll be alone all over again, nobody to smile at you, nobody to look at you without disgust clouding their face—_

 

“Mana! I am here, Mana!” Yelling as loud as he can after his coughing fit stops, Allen pushes himself of the wall, running out of the alleyway into the streets. He doesn’t care about the dirty looks sent his way as he screams at the top of his lungs. “MANA! Mana! Where are you?! MANA!”

 

_I am sorry, don't leave me, don't leave, please, please don't leave me alone, I can't, Mana, Mana, ManaManaMana—_

 

His thoughts are cut short as he trips, knees sliding harshly along the sidewalk, hand flaying in an attempt to catch himself as his head hits the ground.

 

Vision blurry, he doesn’t attempt to get back up onto his feet as people step around him without trying to help him. All he cares for is that a bucket of ice water has been poured over his body, numbing his nerves and the warmth he’s grown accused to is missing.

 

But he needs it to survive, he's so cold. Why isn't it there?

 

Allen curls into a ball, shivering.

 

“Mana…”

 

“What on earth are you doing, sleeping on the streets in the middle of winter? Silly, Allen, you’ll get sick this way~!”

 

“Mana?!”

 

The smiling face of a man looms over him when Allen looks up, head titling the man regards him with bright golden eyes.

 

“Yes, that’s my name. You simply disappeared again, you almost game me a heart attack, Allen~.”

 

“Mana…Mana…”Eyes watering, Allen nearly trips again as he tackles the man in a vicious hug.“Where the hell were you?! Stupid, forgetful Moron!”

 

He tugs at the coat, hoping to tear the fabric in his allegation.

 

“There, there~,” The large hand rubbing his back is familiar enough to make the tension bleed out of his shoulders. He doesn’t dare to let go of the man. “I am sorry for making Allen worry so much—my, what happened to you? Your knees are all scratched up~!”

 

“I tripped and it’s your fault, because I was running to catch up to you.”

 

“Your voice sounds very funny, Allen, it appears I was too late to prevent you from catching a cold~.”

 

Allen yelps when two hands lift him into strong arms. Reaching out, he grips at the black collar of Mana’s coat. He tries to swat the hand reaching for his face away only to freeze when it’s pressed against his forehead.

 

He melts into the gentle touch, trying to stifle a cough as Mana’s smile turns into a frown.

 

“You’re way too warm. That’s no good. You’ll have to rest if you want to get better and sleeping outside isn’t an option today~.”

 

“I am not sick!” Allen protests as Mana starts walking, not bothering to set him down. “I never get sick, just like you.”

 

“I used to be a very sick child~.”

 

“What? But I thought idiots can’t catch colds.”

 

Mana laughs, the vibration of his chest making Allen wince slightly at the jostle of movement. Now, in the secure hold of arms with the scent of home in his nose, his exhaustion catches up to him. He slumps into the hold, laying his head onto a shoulder, burying his cold nose into the warm neck.

 

“Neah used to say the same thing, Neah who is lost, but you’re here with me, so the world isn’t too bad. We'll find him again. We'll just have to keep on walking~.”

 

The strange name sounds faint in Allen’s ears as his eyes flutter close. Mana keeps on talking, the soft but bright tune of his voice soothes the throbbing inside his head.

 

_“I love you, Allen~.”_

 

In a matter of seconds, Allen is fast asleep.

* * *

 

When he wakes up, he sees the brown wood of the celling of an Inn and instantly shots up in the bed. The room spins violently for a second, like that time where he tried to balance on the large ball only to slip and fall and he regrets trying to sit up too fast.

 

“Good morning, Allen~.” Mana is all smiles, sitting on the edge of his bed, face void of any makeup, top hat missing, only clothed in a shirt and a pair of dark pants.“How do you feel~?”

 

“Like shit.”

 

Mana’s eyes shine as he nods, and Allen is instantly wary of what that could mean. “I thought so, but you don’t need to worry, I have a way to make you feel better~.”

 

The man reaches for a something at the nightstand while Allen is busy cringing at the way his clothes feel against his skin. Too sweaty and suffocating warm to bear for his taste, they partly stick to his skin. His face feels flushed as if he’d run the whole day, his voice raspy as the words crackle on his tongue.

 

“Here, drink this and you’ll feel lots of better real soon~.”

 

A spoon is thrust in front of his face, filled to the brim with a dark green substance as Mana scoots closer on his place of the bed. How he could have missed the man upon waking up is still a mystery, Allen blames the stuffy feeling inside his head.

 

What he does know, he doesn’t hesitate to blurt out.

 

“That smells like shit, I am not drinking that, whatever that is!”

 

Allen pushes the spoon away, his forehead wrinkles as the smell hits his nose, stomach twisting at the thought of swallowing the liquid which reminds him of dirty swamp water.

 

“Don’t be silly, Allen. It`s medicine not poison,” Mana says with a chuckle, making funny noises nearly whistling as he draws invisible lines in the air with the spoon. “Open your mouth, here comes the bird~.”

 

“Quit it!”

 

Mana frowns, a displeased curve of lips dragging down the corners of his mouth.

 

“You like chicken.” A fact, one, Allen cannot argue with, so he settles for glaring at the man. “I do too. Perhaps some chicken soup will help…Now, what I don’t like is seeing you like this, so let me fix you~.”

 

“I don’t even want to get better anymore.”

 

Allen groans, slumping against the pillows.

The spoon halts and the smile on Mana’s face thins into a single layer of ice.

 

“Don’t say that~.”

 

“Huh?”

 

Mana’s eyes seem to burn as he sets the spoon away to cup Allen’s face.

 

“Don’t ever say you won’t get better. Some people are sick, very sick and sometimes they won’t get better, no matter how hard they try—,”

 

Harsh shadows fall across the smiling face, lips pressed together to form a single white line.

Allen swallows harshly, throat tightening.

 

“—but they keep wishing to get better, so that their loved ones won’t be miserable anymore. You won’t break our promise, Allen doesn’t like to see me miserable, does he? So, he must focus on getting better, so we can keep on walking~!”

 

Rough thumbs stroke over Allen’s cheeks, tugging wayward strands of greasy hair behind a flushed ear.

 

“Fine, stop nagging already and give me the drugs.”

 

Using one hand, Allen tries to swat the hands holding his face away, only to startle when they move.

 

“Your cheeks are so squishy, Allen, and look at how red they are~!”

 

“Leth goh of meh!”

 

“You’re such a cute little boy, always so interesting in your reactions~.”

 

When the abuse on his cheeks stopped, Allen bared his teeth in irritation at the man who grinned at the face he makes. Opening his mouth to vehemently spit out curses at the man, he chokes on the spoon that gets shoved down his throat.

 

_That two-faced, dirty piece of—_

 

“Now, now, that wasn’t so hard, was it~?” Mana ruffles his hair. Allen rubs his throat, eyes watery as he scowls. “You will feel lots of better after drinking your medicine and taking a nap~.”

 

“Naps are for babies.”

 

“I used to take lots of naps—” At Allen’s unimpressed stare, Mana wiggles underneath the blanket, so they were lying side by side. “Just like this. Taking naps together is more fun than being lonely~.”

 

Fingers cradling gently through his hair, Allen sinks into the offered warmth. Mana’s body worked strangely, never cold, always pleasantly warm…

 

_Just this once…_

_I will rest my eyes for a bit._

 

“That’s it. I am here, Allen~.”

 

Mana’s voice is soft, soothing for the beating inside his head. He knows the symbol that’s drawn onto his skin. Lines, circles of a charm he’s been told of. The one he drew himself into the snow until his fingers turned blue.

 

It’s still too warm, throat rubbed raw, Allen’s sure he’s bleeding somewhere and the bandages around his knees itch horrible. But…

 

_Mana’s here,_ Silver eyes glance at the gentle smile that is being offered and he sighs. _That’s all I will need for now._

 

He’ll get revenge for the “medicine” later. Until then, he’ll enjoy this feeling just a bit longer.


End file.
